By Yang Ater Yang
Lakes State, in collaboration with health partners, have launched a four-day campaign to administer the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine (NOPV).
Dr. Jacob Akocpiir Achuoth, the Lakes State Minister of Health for, emphasized the importance of the campaign.
“Polio is a serious disease, especially for infants, leading to paralysis, deformities, and sometimes death” he stated. “We launched this campaign to stop the spread of the virus and ensure our people have access to healthcare services.”
He acknowledged the delay in launching the campaign due to logistical issues and expressed gratitude to health partners, including UNICEF South Sudan.
Dr. Achuoth stressed the importance of vaccination, highlighting the government’s slogan: “Protect the life of the people through prevention.”
He also urged caregivers, families, community leaders, and religious leaders to encourage children to participate in the campaign.
“We want to make sure every child in this state is vaccinated against polio. Vaccination is one of the most important ways to protect our citizens” he echoed.
He further urged mothers to bring their children for vaccination, highlighting South Sudan’s low maternal mentality childcare rates.
The campaign will run from February 28th to March 2nd and will involve house-to-house vaccination.
Dr. Kawa Koul Tong, UNICEF Health Officer, acknowledged the strong commitment of the Lakes State government to providing healthcare.
“We reaffirm the commitment of UNICEF, WHO, and other UN agencies to support Lakes State in implementing its health policies” she said.
She emphasized the importance of collaboration to overcome any challenges and achieve a successful campaign.
Maria Adut Yuol, Acting EPI Manager for Lakes State, provided details about the campaign, including the target population of Children aged 0-69 months, 1,538 vaccinators.
She further stated that the campaign duration running from February 28th through March 2nd (except Cueibet and Yirol East counties, starting on March 1st) and there are 191 team supervisors in the state.
Yuol emphasized the importance of parental and guardian cooperation and called for the vaccination of all children in the target age group.
The campaign aims to achieve at least 25% coverage and vaccinate all 293,414 targeted children under 5 years old in the state.
Additionally, a blood donation drive is taking place at Rumbek State Hospital to address the prevalence of anemia in children and pregnant mothers.
The national government, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, UNICEF and other partners on Tuesday launched the nationwide polio vaccination campaign in Juba targeting 3.1 million children.